China Continues To Snap Up U.S. Beans

China's appetite for U.S. soybeans clearly remains strong. China again topped the list of buyers in USDA's weekly export sales report and U.S. exporters announced additional sales to that country last Friday morning.

USDA's weekly export sales report showed that China bought another 626,600 metric tons (about 10.9 million bushels) of U.S. soybeans during the week ended Nov. 21.

In addition, under its daily export reporting system, USDA reported fresh sales of another 110,000 tons (about 4 million bushels) of U.S. soybeans to China.

Through the week ended Nov. 21, China had bought 3.295 million metric tons (121.1 million bushels) of U.S. soybeans for 2002-2003 delivery. The Chinese purchases were up 61% from the year-earlier level of 2.047 million tons (75.2 million bushels).

Editors note: Richard Brock, Soybean Digest's Marketing Editor, is president of Brock Associates, a farm market advisory firm, and publisher of The Brock Report.

To see more market perspectives, visit Brock's Web site at www.brockreport.com.